Machines such as, for example, on and off-highway haul trucks, ships, railway cars, and other types of heavy equipment are used to perform a variety of tasks. Some of these tasks involve carrying large, awkward, loose, and/or heavy loads and, because of the size of the machines and/or poor visibility provided to operators of the machines, these tasks can be difficult to complete safely and effectively. In fact, it is not uncommon for part of the load to fall from the machine completely unnoticed by the operator. This problem can be exacerbated when the machine is remotely or autonomously controlled. A lost load can result in low productivity and efficiency, as well as potential obstruction and/or contamination of roadways, railways, or waterways. The lost load can also damage other machines and harm living organisms in the immediate vicinity.
One way to minimize the affect of a lost load may be to automatically detect when and how much of the load has been lost from the machine, and provide this information to an operator of the machine. An example of this strategy is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,113,852 (the '852 patent) issued to Kapadia et al. on Sep. 26, 2006. The '852 patent describes a ship or other watercraft equipped with a hull integrity detector and a sensor. Once a breach in a cargo hull of the ship has been detected by the hull integrity detector, the sensor detects an egress rate of cargo through the breached hull. The sensor may operate in combination with an algorithm that determines the amount of cargo leaving the hull of the ship based on sensed changes in water displacement of the vessel and known dimensions, and configurations of the vessel.
Although the hull integrity detector of the '852 patent may alert a ship or watercraft operator to a potential cargo loss when a container is ruptured, it may do little to alert a machine operator to cargo lost via intended container openings, for example, the open top of a haul truck, the open door of a container, and the open sides of a barge. Furthermore, though the sensor of the '852 patent may determine the amount of cargo leaving a ruptured hull, it may have limited applicability to non-watercraft because the determination relies on changes in a vessel's water displacement. Reliance on a vessel's water displacement may also be an inaccurate method of determining the amount of cargo lost because additional factors not accounted for by the '852 patent may affect buoyancy. For example, while cargo is flowing out, water may flow in, and while cargo is flowing out, other materials may be dumped from the vessel to alleviate listing. In addition, the system of the '852 patent may provide little warning to avoid the geographical location of the lost load, or arrange for cleanup, salvage, or repair necessitated by the lost load.
The disclosed system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.